Nepal government cracks down on Tibetan welfare election with riot gear

February 18, 2011

Nepal's "one China policy" is ever more frequently invoked by the government as justification for shutting down community activities within the Tibetan community.

The newest crackdown took place on Sunday, when the government sent armed police -- in riot gear and wielding batons -- to shut down local elections for the leadership of the Chushi-Gangdruk, a Tibetan community group principally looking after the welfare of veterans of the Tibetan resistance force that battled the Chinese People's Liberation Army from 1958 to 1974.

What were the sinister intentions behind the Chushi Gangdruk election?

Explained one committee official: "We are voting for our local community representatives so that when someone is sick we can take them to the hospital or when someone dies we can take the corpse to the graveyard. We help poor and homeless people, and we clean the streets and look after the environment in our community. We are refugees and do not have a government to look after us. Only [refugee] community members do these jobs. We are here today, electing our community representatives in a democratic way."

In fact, the Chushi-Gangdruk election is a decades-old practice that has, until now, not been challenged or prohibited by the Nepali government. The only difference in 2011 is the increasing Chinese influence over Nepali internal affairs.

Interestingly, the election began quietly on Sunday morning with no apparent apprehension from security forces. Local police in Boudha – one of three election posts --who checked on the gathering when voting began at 9:00 a.m., voiced no objection to the proceedings.

Nonetheless, around 10:00 a.m., a van arrived at the voting hall carrying police wearing riot-gear, guns and batons, and was accompanied by a truck that is typically used to take people away for detention.

The Boudha ballot box was confiscated and police monitored the area until evening to ensure that fresh elections could not be held. In the other two poll locations, Swoyambhu and Jawalakhel, the voting had concluded before police were called in.

According to International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) officials in Washington, "The link between China's aggression against Tibetans and Nepalese police actions has contributed to an environment of fear and insecurity in Nepal's Tibetan communities.”

Tibetans stranded in Nepal are basically without rights, other than to be in Nepal.

Under Chinese pressure, Nepal now refuses to recognize as refugees those who arrived after 1989, significantly limiting their social, economic, political and civil rights. They are no longer allowed, for instance, to register marriages and the birth of children. Nor are they permitted to celebrate the birthday of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

On October 3, 2010, armed police confiscated the ballot boxes for the election of a new prime minister for the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. That interruption marked the first time Nepal had interfered with the Tibetans low-profile election process. (See my article: “Nepal – Playing China’s Lackey – Seizes Ballot Boxes for Tibetan Election”)